One of the last projects that I had my music technology students perform this year was to search http://go2web20.net and find web 2.0 applications that they thought would be beneficial to an educator or musician. If you haven’t been to Go2Web20’s website, you are in for a real “shocker” when you finally do. You will not believe how many online Web 2.0 applications are available to you -the majority for FREE. Many of them are awesome and some, well, not so awesome… Hopefully this list will shed some light on the more useful programs for music educators!
The following are Web 2.0 sites (and their comments) that my students found to be interesting and useful to them in some way:
- http://songza.com
This website is a music search engine and jukebox, meaning that you can pull up any song that can be found on the site and listen to it. This is inclusive of major works (motion picture soundtracks, top artists, etc.). As a music educator, this would be a great resource to teach popular music. - http://buddyschool.com
This site is a resource where people can give and receive lessons on schoolwork. It provides a medium for tutoring to occur outside of traditional methods. In this way, students could receive help on demand. - http://www.engrade.com
This Web 2.0 site is an online grade-book. A teacher can use this to keep track of student grades. Students and parents on the other hand can be given access to see their child’s achievement and grades. This provides a way for students to track their progress in a class, and a way for parents to diagnose problems that their students may be facing. - http://www.musigy.com
This website is a platform for sharing music in near relatime with other people. More specifically, it provides a medium for having jam sessions with people across the globe. This could provide a way in which a cyberschool could put together a rudimetnary performing ensemble. It could also introduce students to improvisation. - http://www.clickforlessons.com
This website keeps track of people who are willing to give lessons -particularly lessons in the performing arts- and provides a search engine to find these people. It also provides a map and locates where these teachers are located in relation to an address or zipcode given. You can even get directions to the house or studio that the teachers operate from, thereby helping to locate and receive work as a private instructor. - http://trymango.com
Mango.com is a free enterprise language learning course website. There are twelve different language courses available each including 100 lessons. This site would be great for voice students or a choir who is/are studying a piece of music in a different language to provide more background and pronunciation guidelines, etc. - http://www.myschoolog.com
Myschoolog.com is a web-based application that allows teachers and students to organize their schedules. You can organize everything that happens at school with this site including, lessons, exams, notes, schedules, and more. - http://visualthesaurus.com
Visualthesaurus it an interactive dictionary and thesaurus that provides visual aids to all of its subjects. - http://quzlet.com
Quizlet is a completely free, ad-free, website that functions to help people learn vocabulary. It allows a list to be entered and creates tests, flashcards, etc. It has a social aspect to it that will allow classmates to help each other with their vocabularly or just chat. - http://www.soundsnap.com
Soundsnap is a repository for sound clips, sound loops, and other audio effects. The site is designed for sound designers, filmmakers, web designers, sound artists, and music producers. - http://mp3realm.org
Mp3realm is a search engine designed to search the web for audio in mp3 formats. It can search for title, album, artist, or genre. It also has an index of lyrics which allow you to sing along with the songs or look at the lyrics. - http://www.triporama.com
A website that will help you plan trips for large groups and “bid” out pricing for you so that you can select from a number of options and price ranges that best fit your needs and budget! - http://clockingit.com
A free to use application that helps you keep track of your tasks and the TIME you spend on them. - http://kindersay.com
A fun, simple website that is very educational for young children. It includes, learning activities, games, and videos/audio clips. This site is especially useful for ESL children as it includes fun ways to learn vocabulary. - http://scriblink.com
This site is a virtual online whiteboard that can be shared with up to six people by emailing a link to them. It also allows conference chats with the people utilizing the whiteboard. - http://schoopy.com
Schoopy is a classroom organizer, includes making school websites, and has educational games that teachers, parents, and student can access. Once a school is connected, teachers, can post homework assignments, announcements, etc. It also works like a social network. Anyone who is a member of the “community” of the school can see who else is “online”. Messages can then be sent, pictures shared, and games played. - http://adrive.com
Provides a free 50 gigabytes of space to backup your most important files and/or access from the web! What teacher doesn’t need this kind of connectivity and backup solution?!? - http://www.livemocha.com
A website for people who want to learn foreign languages. There are games and vocabulary practice exercises. You can also interact with others online who are learning the same language that you are…because of this, you may quiz and practice with others…all the time. - http://jamstudio.com
This website allows you to mix music and email your compositions to anyone. It also created embeddable versions of your mix to include on other websites. Your music may be remixed and tweaked by your friends. - http://pandora.com
Listen to free Internet radio and find new music online. - http://www.stumbleupon.com
Stumble Upon is a great way to explore the web in a very easy fashion. The free service allows you to explore different types (catagories) of websites and allows you to find other websites that are related. - http://ksolo.com
This site is basically an online karaoke machine. This site is great for groups to record, critique, and share their singing with others. - http://bookalesson.com
This website allows students to search for private lesson instructors. Although this site can be used to find instrumental and vocal lessons, you may also use it to find teachers for any type of tutoring purpose: golf, baseball, math, etc. - http://lulu.com
A self-publishing website. They will publish anything. Great for teachers who want to make limited versions of a text book for their classes, etc. - http://wufoo.com
A form making website. You may create any type of form from permission slips, to medical forms. Use this for field trips, registrations, surveys, etc. You may also search from a very comprehensive store of forms already created!
Please share with us your experiences with these sites or add new ones to the comment section below!
Dr. Pisano,
Wow, thank you for this site and all the hard work you do. Your site is one of the best I’ve come across. I’m sure others appreaciate your work as well.
Ethan
Hi Joe,
A Tip of My Hat to your students for these gems.
Blessings!
Keith
Music Tech for ME
I’m VERY surprised that Deezer (www.deezer.com) was not on the list. I think that Songza and Deezer provide similar services, but in the long run, Deezer will prevail.
Hey Joe,
Always enjoy perusing your lists; be it a list of open source programs, the list like this one, or a list of music education bloggers. It most definitely helps me gauge the wealth of resources out in the webosphere.
Are you heading out to Milwaukee for the National MENC?
LP
[…] thought I would highlight this post from a blog I read. It presents the top 25 web 2.0 sites as discovered by a group of American […]
I think this thesaurus should be also in this list.